James Foster
James Savin Foster
Born: 15 April 1980, Whipps Cross, Leytonstone, Essex
Major Teams: Essex, Durham UCCE, England.
Known As: James Foster
Batting Style: Right Hand Bat
Other: Wicket-Keeper
Test Debut: England v India at Mohali, 1st Test, 2001/02
Latest Test: England v New Zealand at Auckland, 3rd Test, 2001/02
ODI Debut: England v Zimbabwe at Harare, 1st ODI, 2001/02
Latest ODI: England v New Zealand at Christchurch, 1st ODI, 2001/02
NBC Denis Compton Award 2001
Career Statistics:
TESTS
(including 30/03/2002)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 6 10 3 201 48 28.71 35.57 0 0 14 1
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling - - - - - - - - - -
ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
(including 13/02/2002)
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 11 6 3 41 13 13.66 57.74 0 0 13 7
O M R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling - - - - - - - - - -
FIRST-CLASS
(2000 - 2002)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 36 53 7 1236 103 26.86 1 6 78 11
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
Bowling 2 0 6 0 - - 0 0 - 3.00
LIST A LIMITED OVERS
(2000 - 2002)
M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct St
Batting & Fielding 37 30 11 387 56* 20.36 0 1 48 11
O M R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
Bowling - - - - - - - - - -
- Explanations of First-Class and List A status courtesy of the ACS.
StatsGuru Filters for James Foster
Statistics involving James Foster
Articles about James Foster
Full list of articles
Pictures of James Foster
Full list of images
Profile:
James Foster was one of the players who benefited from England's policy of
finding new faces who could be prepared for the 2003 World Cup. He had
appeared in only four first-class matches for his county, Essex, before he
was selected as a wicket-keeper/batsman for the England A tour to the West
Indies in 2000-2001 at the age of 20.
Foster was originally selected as the understudy to Chris Read, who had
already played Test cricket, but by the end of the tour it was not clear who
was the number one. A successful season with Essex promised, once he had
finished his studies at Durham University where he followed Nasser Hussain
from the same school, Forest.
When Alec Stewart announced that he did not wish to be considered for the
winter tour to India, Foster stepped up and, as well as being selected
(along with Warren Hegg) for the Test tours to India and New Zealand, he
went as the only recognised wicket-keeper on the one-day international tour
to Zimbabwe earlier in the winter.
Foster made his one-day international debut in Harare. In the third match
of the series, he had an altercation with his experienced counterpart, Andy
Flower. The Zimbabwean was on 99 when Foster believed he had taken a catch.
The umpire turned down the appeal and there was an unfortunate confrontation
between batsman and wicket-keeper for which they were both reprimanded. So
too was Hussain, the England captain later going on record as saying: "I
want to see people with a lot of heart and character because that's what
gets you through in the end. You can be as nice as you want, play the game
the right way and all that but you want people with character in your side.
I'll speak to James and we'll see what happens, but I'd rather have someone
with a bit of character that you're trying to draw in every now and then
than the other way around when you're trying to draw people out of their
shells."
With those words of encouragement behind him, Foster set out to India and
New Zealand as the man in possession. He held that place throughout the
Indian tour, although critics would say that he held little else. That would
be harsh, for although he made mistakes, the heart and character about which
his captain had spoken pulled him through to follow mistakes with a smart
piece of keeping or a gritty innings.
However, he did lose his place in the one-day series in New Zealand when
the selectors preferred a makeshift wicket-keeper in the shape of Marcus
Trescothick to accommodate another batsman. Nevertheless, despite an
impressive performance by the other wicket-keeper on tour, Warren Hegg, in a
warm-up match, Foster was back in the side for the Tests. He continued to
make mistakes, but again redeemed himself with the bat so that by the end of
the winter he was averaging nearly 30 with the bat and had claimed 15
victims in his six Tests. However, in 11 one-day internationals, despite 20
victims, he could only muster a batting average of 13.66 and his future in
the shorter form of the game appeared in some doubt.
His Test place went as well when he fractured his arm in the nets at the
start of the domestic season. No sooner had that mended when he suffered
another break during the early stages of his comeback. By that time, Alec
Stewart had re-established himself in the international teams and Foster had
to be content on being included in the Ashes tour party as the reserve
wicket-keeper.
An all-round sportsman as well as an all-round cricketer, Foster played
hockey for Essex U21s and represented Great Britain at U14 level at tennis.
(Copyright CricInfo October 2002)
Last Updated: Saturday, 09-Nov-2002 12:48:01 GMT
|
|  |